Verbal behavior is being evaluated relative to drinking history, age and short-term and long-term abstinence in detoxified alcoholics. Specific verbal categories were determined from the content analysis of speech samples. Recent and chronic consumption variables were found to interact with each other and with age and education in a nonlinear manner in predicting impaired verbal behavior. Average impairment of verbal behavior was significantly greater among detoxified male alcoholics (n = 116) than nonalcoholics (n = 58). Alcoholics were also more impaired than nonalcoholics on measures of depression, social alienation-personal disorganization (schizoid traits), separation, guilt, diffuse anxiety, and hostility inward. Specific verbal categories were used to predict performance on commonly used, clinical neuropsychological tests. A summary score of cognitive impairment was derived from the individual scores in various verbal categories and was found to be in the impaired range in detoxified alcoholics. Cognitive performance, as measured by analysis of verbal behavior, showed no improvement with short-term abstinence (14-20 days), but seven months abstinence was associated with improvement.